Automatic brake for knitting-machines.



PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908. e.- A. WHITE.

APPLICATION FILED IAY8.'1907 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

No. 879,506. I PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908;

' G-. A. WHITE...

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR KNITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION 1 I LED Mun, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

M X/255555. I JWE/zzm a; QA ,dwya 0 GEORGE A. WHITE,- OF BRISTOL,CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed May 8' 1907. Serial No. 3'72.563.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. WHITE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Brakesfor Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic brakes for knittingmachines, and the main object of my improvement is to automaticallyrelease the brake as soon as the machine stops.

In the accompanying drawing :Figure 1 is a sectional plan view of mybrake and so much of a knitting machine as is necessary to show itsconnection therewith. The plane of section is indicated by the line 90ac in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same, on theline n y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view, on the line .2of Fig. 1, showing the principal parts of my brake attachment. Fig. 4 isa sectional side elevation of my friction brake. Fig. 5 is a sectionalview thereof on the line 8 s of Fig. 4, a portion of the shaft beingshown in elevation.

While my brake may be used upon any machine'to which it is applicable,it is more particularly designed for use on knitting machines. I haveshown the same as applied to an ordinary or well known form of knittingmachine table that is designed to have placed thereon two circularknitting frames. The drawings show only one end or half of the saidtable A, and the driving shaft B for one of the said circular frames.The said table has on its under side a boxlike flange 6 to which anysuitable legs 7 may be secured in any ordinary manner. The bearing orbox 8 for one end of the shaft B may be mounted on the legs at the endsof the table, while the other end of the said shaft is mounted in a box9 on the bracket 10 that is secured in any suitable manner to the underside of the table. The shaft B is also provided with a bevel gear 11 forengaging a bevel gear and vertical shaft not shown, for driving thecircular frame. The said shaft B is provided with fast and loose pulleys12 and 13 for the application of a driving belt 14 to drive the machine.

A shipper 15 is formed or mounted on one end of the shipper lever 16,for shifting the belt from one pulley to the other, the said lever beingpulled or operated in one direction by a spring 17 connected by one endto the shipper lever and by its other end to a fixed support 18, and inthe other direction by means of the attendant who moves the said leverby the handle 19. The shipper is shown-in Fig. 1, in a position to shiftand hold the belt on the loose pulley 13. When the operator pulls theshipper lever handle forward, the belt is shifted to the fast pulley andthe spring 17 is put under increased tension, so that it will ull theshipper lever in the direction to shift the belt to the loose pulley assoon as the shipper lever is reeased.

The parts thus far described are all old and in practice the shipperlever is secured in its position for holding the belt on the fast pulleyand is automatically released upon the breaking of a threador yarn, butfor the purposes of disclosing my im rovement it is immaterial how theshipper ever is released to the force of the spring. My attachment tothis old machine consists of a cross arm 20 with parts mounted thereonthe said cross arm being secured to the under side of the table, afriction brake 21 mounted on the driving shaft and an operating bar orslide 22 connected to the shipper. The cross arm 20 is provided with anextension slide 23 adjustably secured by a bolt and slot connection 24,so that it may be contracted or lengthened to fit frames or tables ofvarying widths. Its ends are provided with lugs 25 by means of which itmay be bolted or otherwise secured to the flanges 6 of the tableunderneath the table A, and a little above the shaft B as shown in Figs.1 and 2. The friction brake 21 is in the form of a ring, having one ormore stop arms 26, the ring and arms being frictionally mounted on thehub 27 and plate 28, that are made fast on the shaft B in any suitablemanner, as for example, by the set screws 29. The ring is recessed asshown in Figs. 4 and 5 to receive the friction spring or shoe 30 thatbears on the periphery of the hub 27 within the ring and the friction ofthe said spring or shoe on the said hub may be adjusted by means of theset screw 31 in the said ring. This friction brake is mounted on theshaft 8 by one side edge of the cross arm 20 as shown. Upon the saidcross arm a sliding bolt 32 is mounted transversely to the said arm, oneend of the said bolt being connected with the plate 33,

while'a spring or springs 34 and 35 are arranged between the said plateand cross arm with a constant tendency to force the said plate away fromthe cross arm and thereby move the sliding bolt 32 so as to withdraw itsends from engagement with the stop arms 26-of the brake or ring 21. Aguide bracket 36, having a slot 37 for the operating bar or slide 22, isadjustably mounted on the cross arm 20 by means of a bolt 38 that passesthrough a slot 39 in the foot of the said guide bracket. The operatingbar or slide 22 is pivoted by one end to the shipper 15 by.a pin or bolt40, Fig. 1, while its opposite end ies in the slot 37 of the guidebracket 36, as best shown in Fig. 3. This end of the said operating baris provided with a shoulder for engaging the plate 33 of the bolt 32,for moving the said bolt longitudinally against the force of its springs34 and 35, and in the direction to project the end of the said bolt intothe path of the stop arms 26. I prefer to make this shoulder adjustable.This I accomplish by forming the shoulder 41 on the end of a separateplate 42, said plate having a longitudinal slot for the bolt 43 by whichit is secured to the side of the operating bar as shown, the slot in thesaid plate being indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3. The operating baror slide is also provided with a lifting cam or projection 44, Fig. 3,at its under edge, for engaging a fixed obstruction, as for example themetal at the lower end of the slot 37 in the guide bracket 36.

Some suitable stop device should be provided to limit the withdrawingmovement of thesliding bolt 32, and this may be in the form of a pin orscrew 45 on the bolt, for engaging some fixed device on the cross arm,as for'eXample the strap 46, Fig. 1, that holds the bolt 32 in its ways.The spring or springs employed to withdraw the sliding bolt 32 should bemuch lighter than the spring 17 that moves the shipper, in order thatthese springs for the bolt may be put under tension by the force of thespring 17 when thesaid spring is moving the shipper and connected parts.

While my brake is designed to be operated by a spring actuated shipper,the mechanism and its operation is the same, whether the shipper isforced to its position relatively to the loose pulley, by a spring, bymechanism, or by hand.

When the shipper is moved to shift the belt upon the fast pulley fordriving the shaft B, the operating bar or slide is moved with theshipper far enough to carry the shoulder 41 to the farther side of theplate 33 so that the bar drops down with its shoulder 41 in a lowerposition than the upper edge of the said plate. When the shipper isoperated to shift the belt to the loose pulley, the operating bar 22 ismoved with it and the shoulder 41 thereon engages the plate 33 by itsupper edge, whereby the said late and attached bolt 32 are moved withthe said shipper and bar soas to project the'end of the said bolt intothe path of the stop arms 26 of the friction brake. When one of thesearms engages the said bolt the rotary movement of the friction brake 21is stopped, although the driving shaft and hub inside of the said brakemay continue their motion for a short time. As the shipper reaches itsposition over the loose pulley the lifting cam 44 of the operating. barengages the metal at the lower end of the slot 37 in the guide bracket36, and lifts the said bar far enough to disengage the shoulder 41 fromthe edge of the plate 33 so as to release the said plate and bolt 32 tothe force of their springs 34 and 35, as shown in Fig. 3. So long as themotion of the shaft B continues and presses the stop arm 26 against thebolt 32, there will be so much friction on the said bolt that thesprings 34 and 35 will not withdraw it, although the operating bar hasreleased its hold on the bolt. But just as soon as the shaft B stops sothat the stop arms no longer bear upon the end of the bolt and hold it,the springs 34 and 35 withdraw the bolt and release the friction brake,so that the operator has to pay no attention to releasing the brake andthe machine is ready to repeat the operation hereinbefore describedwhenever the shipper is again moved for starting and stopping themachine.

By placing the friction brake upon the driving shaft instead of directlyon the circular frame there is less liability of breakage and at thesame time the machine will be stopped as quick as it is safe to stop it.The action of the brake is wholly automatic, both as to engagement anddisengagement, and the operator has only to shift the shiper justexactly the same as it would be shifted if the brake were not present.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of a driving shaft with fastand loose pulleys mounted on the said shaft, a shipper for shifting abelt on the said pulleys, a friction brake mounted on the said shaft andhaving a stop arm, a sliding bolt adapted to have one end moved into andout of the path of the stop arm of the said friction brake, and anoperating bar or slide connected with the said shipper, for projectingthe end of the said sliding bolt into the path of thesaid stop arm whenthe shipperis operated to shift the belt to the loose pulley.

2. The combination of a driving shaft with fast and loose pulleysmounted thereon, a shipper for shifting a belt on the said pulleys, afriction brake mounted on the said shaft and having a stop arm, asliding bolt adapted to have one end moved into and out of the path ofthe said stop arm, a spring for withdrawing the said bolt from the pathof the said stop arm, an operating bar or slide connected with the said.shipper for acting upon the said bolt for projecting the end of the saidbolt into the path of the said stop arm when the shipper is operated toshift the belt to the loose pulley, and means for throwing the saidoperating bar or slide out of action on the bolt after the end of saidbolt has been engaged by the said stop arm.

3. The combination of a frame or table with a driving shaft mountedthereon, mechanism for driving the said shaft, a shipper for putting thedriving mechanism into and out of action, a friction brake mounted onthe said driving shaft and having a stop arm on its periphery, a crossarm mounted on the said frame adjacent to the said friction brake, asliding bolt mounted on the said cross arm and adapted to have one endmoved into and out of the path of the said stop arm, a spring for movingthe said bolt out of the path of the said stop arm, an operating bar orslide connected by one end with the said shipper and having its oppositeend guided on the said cross arm, the said bar or slide having ashoulder for engaging a part that moves with the said sliding bolt andalso having a liftin cam for engaging a fixed device on the saic crossarm for lifting the said bar out of engagement with the said bolt afterthe said bolt has been projected into the path of the said stop arm.

4. The combination of a driving shaft with mechanism for driving thesaid shaft, a shipper for putting the said driving mechanism into andout of action, a friction brake comprising a hub fixed upon the saiddriving shaft, a ring having a stop arm projecting from its peripheryand mounted to turn on the said hub and friction applying means betweenthe said hub and ring, a bolt for obstructing the movement of the saidring with its hub, and means connected with the shipper for bringing thesaid bolt into the path of the stop arm on the said ring.

5. The combination of a driving shaft with mechanism for driving thesame, a shipper for putting the driving mechanism into and out ofaction, a friction brake mounted on the said shaft and having a stoparm, a bolt adapted to have one end moved into and out of the path ofthe stop arm of the said friction brake, and ,means connected with theshipper for operating the. said bolt for engaging and disengaging thesaid stop arm.

GEORGE A. WHITE.

Witnesses:

BURTON L. BENNETT, ARTHUR F. WooDFoRD.

